Cong needs full-time chief to halt party ‘drift’: Tharoor

‘If Rahul doesn’t want to be chief, party must find someone else’

New Delhi, Aug. 9: The Congress must expedite the process of finding a full-term president to arrest the growing public perception that the party is “adrift and rudderless”, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday. Mr Tharoor also said that he certainly thinks Rahul Gandhi has the “mettle, capability and aptitude to once again lead the party”, but if he does not wish to do so then the party must “take action” to elect a new chief.

His comments assume significance as they come just ahead of Sonia Gandhi completing one year as interim chief on August 10, with the party yet to find her successor.

“I certainly believe we should be clear about our leadership going forward. I welcomed Sonia ji’s appointment as interim president last year, but I do believe it's unfair to her to expect her to carry this burden indefinitely,” Mr Tharoor told PTI.

“We also need to arrest the growing public perception, fuelled by a dismissive media, that the Congress is adrift and rudderless, incapable of taking up the challenge of a credible national Opposition,” he said.

That is precisely what the Congress needs to urgently address by expediting the process of finding a full-term president, through a participatory and democratic process that will offer the winning candidate a legitimate mandate and the credibility that will be indispensable in ushering in muchneeded revival of the party, he said.